ELSI

Research & Activities

ELSI Seminar

Constructive approach for the transition from non-living to living

Speaker
Tetsuya Yomo (Osaka University, JST ERATO)
Date
September 2, 2014
Time
15:15
Room

ELSI Building - 104 Communication Room

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Although comprehensive understandings are still missing on the origin of bio-molecules, it is evident that polynucleotides, proteins and lipids assembled before reaching the last common ancestor of the present complex cells. Is a simple assembly of the bio-molecules into micro-scaled compartments able to evolve a life-like complex network? We encapsulated RNA and other factors into lipid vesicles and emulsions, in which the information on the RNA was translated into RNA replicase, which in turn duplicated the original RNA. In a long-term passage experiment, the artificial model evolved two-order acceleration on its gene replication. Of interest was that the two short circuits, double-stranded RNA and short parasitic RNA, emerged at the beginning of the passage experiment, but were suppressed by the evolution. I would discuss general rules on the origin of biological evolvablity.

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